SPIRIT IN THE SKY
by Monsignor Gabriel
Summary: The story of a young Catholic saint... and how the Evil Blade affected and changed his initiative on life.
1. Chapter 1

_**SPIRIT IN THE SKY**_

**A Soul Caliber novel**

_Chapter 1: Preaching a sermon…_

"_What a beautiful world this will be… and we shall all be judged by the beauty in thee… and we will all sing in the great dog's sacred night: free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last!"_

And the gathered chanted along: _"free at last, free at last, and thank God almighty we are free at last!"_

"You may sit" said Gabriel Sr., stepping down from the altar… Gabriel Jr. watched on… he knew this was now one of the biggest sermons his father had ever given… and right now, as he watched his father step down from the altar… it was time for the most exciting moment of the sermon itself: the issue speech.

It was something that most priests were practicing (and mastering) nowadays… it confronted not only God's word… but man's word, what was happening nowadays, and the thoughts that ran amuck nowadays… however, it was not this that was bothering little Gabriel Jr….

"Today is a special, blessed day" said his father, walking down the main aisle, next to the many gathered next to him, sitting, staring, appraising and beloved of a man that had preached to them for almost thirty years; some of them elderly, some of them young, and some of them in the cradle of life…

Gabriel Jr. stared at his father like everyone else was doing… you see… this may sound, like, completely un-Christian… but just seeing him there, tall, built, his greying-black hair shining in the sunlight, in his commanding voice, in his white robes… it was like his father _was _God……

"Today is the twelfth birthday of someone that has been with us for almost twelve years… my son, just another gift of God descended upon from the heavens, just another beautiful thing that God gave us on this Earth… today, he will be giving a sermon that all will find enlightening… Gaby, could you step down please?" And Gabriel did as he was told…

And, just like Jesus was praised almost years ago like his great, almighty father, Gabriel was praised almost equally… the elderly called him the "Gift of God", the young the "bookworm" and the infants just "Gabo"; quiet, educated, envisioning, and taller and smarter than all the other boys combined…

"Let us pray, brothers" said Gabriel, quietly, in a feeble attempt at imitating his father's deeper, greater voice… nonetheless, the crowd remained enthusiastic, and they responded "Amen"… Gabriel cleared his throat for a bit while his father stepped back, sitting at a throne-like chair behind the altar…

However… Gabriel was… well, maybe I'll just let him explain it:

"_Have you ever heard the phrase… "We are both blessed and cursed"? Well… I and we all know how significant that phrase is nowadays… God surely has gifted us with all of these great, beautiful things with enthusiasm and good intent… but sadly… we are all cursed as well as blessed with them… for we are cursed to abuse them… we are cursed to solder in the fire of doubt… of uncertainty… as to how and why we must treat these gifts… be they with… calm… and… and… understanding and control… or will it be to the submission of the most despicable things created… be they hate… the powerful angst inside of us… or will it be… with something that I fear the world is enveloped in…" _

Suddenly… a loud bang came to the church doors…_ "…blindness…"_ another, louder bang came… _"… or insanity?" _Then, the church doors were splintered open… and several spears and swords came poking through… insane, in-human laughter came from those on the other side… they were breaking all the way through…

"BARBARIANS!" screamed a female voice…. The entire room went into complete commotion as hundreds piled to the front of the small church… some pushed all the way back, absolutely frightened… some kneeled at the altar and prayed… Gabriel, tangled into the crowd was pushed to the back…

"GABRIEL!" he heard his father cry, and he saw him… he stood, with his hands on several people's heads, blessing their souls… some wept at his father's feet… some wiped their tears on his robe… "COME HERE, QUICK!" Gabriel did as he was told… "Do you know the closet… the one I tell you never to open?"

BANG! The barbarians were now visible… they were recognizable as some definite barbarians… but among them were Roman soldiers, priests… even a few nobles and politicians… "Open it… use what is in there… don't worry… God will forgive you…" His frightened son rushed off...

"DO NOT BE AFRAID OF DEATH, MY BROTHERS!" roared Gabriel Sr., "FOR IT IS GOD WHO WILL PROTECT YOU!" Then… the doors were demolished… and the attackers stormed the tiny church… "IT IS GOD THAT WILL JUDGE THE WORLD!" he continued… those close to the door were periodically stabbed to death…

"IT IS GOD THAT WILL BLESS YOU… BUT ONLY YOU CAN ACCEPT YOUR SINS AND REPENT!"… After he said this… he felt an axe hit his torso… but he didn't care… they were close to the gathered… "IT IS GOD…"

Suddenly… a priest and a noble stabbed him with a pair of rusty, bloody spearheads in the chest… they were grinning insanely… they both then pulled down on the blades… The tall priest could feel them slicing open his lungs… cutting off his veins and displacing his heart… "God bless your souls" were his last, breathless words…

He fell… and those that stood at his feet were killed… and so were those behind him… all those who were praying had their spines ripped out… all those who had thought about and feared death had been stabbed through the eyes… and those who weren't thinking at all of what they were doing… they faced… Gabriel… who instinctively was feeling the wrath of God…

He raged out from the back… and he stabbed… and he slashed… and he gutted… and he gouged and ripped out those men there… hatred was alive… it was like his body was aflame… but only others could feel it… and it was like it burned their skin off…

Strange… when you think about it… what? Well, I'll let you find out that little jam of symbolism there…


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2: The Grateful Dead_

"_The sky was infinite compared to the little village that sat, nestled and cuddled up, next to the dusty mountains next to the open field of flowers… it was spring, and the field was in full bloom these days… so many, many colours around, like a rainbow sitting on the field._

_Every time you looked up at the partially-dark sky of the afternoon, you sometimes get the feeling that the clouds are kind of alive… or at least someone is floating along with them, or sitting on them, resting their tired wings… God bless the Grateful Dead up in the sky, with Him nowadays… For now they'll be happy."_

Anyway… the town stirred slightly in the afternoon, since mostly everyone was now indoors, finishing their tasks and getting ready their suppers. Some children played under the delicate sunlight, some tag, others kicked a ball around.

The tallest building there was the church, which was huddled up into the hills, next to a stream, which was moving rather dry, considering it hadn't really rained that much. A window that looked out into the stream housed a single, young boy dressed in a red toga, who apparently fell asleep copying down what seemed like a short story…

"Gabriel!" called the voice of a lively, obese little nun, who peered through the door, finding the sleeping boy there, "oh dear, Gabriel!" she was now stirring him, shaking his shoulders, until he finally awoke, "what… oh, what is it, Tabitha?" said Gabriel, "you should start making the food, you can finish that later"

Tabitha bundled through Gabriel's narrow door and down the dark halls of the church… Gabriel stood up from his chair and started to go to the door before he remembered something from before he was about to fall asleep… "I better return this to Father Young" and he took the feather pen from his ink pot and exited.

He walked down the dank hall of his room, one of few in the back of this secluded church. The hall, however, exited into the courtyard, where Gabriel was greeted with some sunlight, since the sky was full of clouds. In the middle of the courtyard, the orphans played…

Those twenty little kids had but one room to themselves… but I guess it's better than to wander the world, alone, with none to look after them. He stared out at them… and they suddenly noticed him, many of them up in a dog pile: "HEY FATHER GABRIEL!" they yelled and waved, and Gabriel waved back…

He noticed the eldest among the group wave more enthusiastically at him than anyone else: that was Gabrielle, 10-year old French-girl that survived a mysterious attack from a rogue azure knight and his followers. Since she had heard that he had the same name as her, she began to pursue Gabriel around…

She's got looks of the combination of the little cherubs in heaven and of a more mature teen, since she was about the same height as Gabriel, had sparkling blue eyes and long, blonde hair… and even though she's kind of pretty, Gabriel had convinced himself that if she ever said that she liked him, he'd have to decline… somehow… the kids called him father because he wrote them a bible over a week… and a half.

However, it made Gabriel extremely grateful to be able to have such fun friends nowadays… he remembered the days he came… it was after that dank day… he took everything he could from his father's chapel… and he just wandered around for a few months until he finally came upon this little village, hidden away from the dangers today had…

The toga he had taken from a politician… the tunic from a poor Roman… and in them the good of both sides of the coin… as he walked down the hall to the church forum, where he knew Father Young was going to be, he wondered about his philosophies… Father Young WAS rather eclectic for the children…

Still, however, Gabriel finds that Father Young had given his thoughts much too honest rant in order for them to be just to scare and shock the kids… he says that we're all dead… there's no point in being scared about that now, because some day we'll all die anyway… in a way, he says, we are all dead already…

However, those who stay humble, kind and remember God's teachings, will become what he calls the "Grateful Dead", those who go up to the sky to live in the heavens with Him… and there, they will be forever happy… and that "life" is just purgatory… and that hell is when you ruin your purgatory…

However, in the end, when we "die", those who repent for ruining this temporary purgatory will just end up in heaven… and there, we'll all live peacefully… and those who don't repent will just have to live again… in the end… we are all just Grateful Dead.

"Father Young?" said Gabriel, peering into the communion room, the biggest one in the church, and where Father Young was fixing up from the last mass, "oh, hi Gabriel, you have my pen?" said Father Young, "yeah, here you go" said Gabriel, giving it to the Father.

"So, is your story done?" said Father Young, "I guess… but I fell asleep after I finished it" "well, that's what you get for working all night…" "Father, what did you want with me?" said Gabriel, abruptly before Father Young finished talking… "Patience is a virtue" said Father Young…

"Yeah… but… this can't wait, Father" said Gabriel, apologetically, "yeah, well, with supper coming up…" "Did you want to tell me something?" said Gabriel, interrupting… "Gabriel, I'm trying to talk here, for God's sake!" exclaimed the Father, "I bet even the Departed are gasping now… are you feeling well..."

"Did you find something about… you know…" again Gabriel barked, this time a bit more excited and anxious than last time, "you sound rather excited about that junk metal you handed me…" Father Young was diverting the issue… something was up…

"Father… did you find something out about those metal shards I gave you?" said Gabriel, patience settling in on his voice… "Well… Gabriel, who did you find these on?" asked Father Young, apparently struggling with his voice, as though he didn't want to order Gabriel to do something important…

"They were in the heads of the ones who… attacked… you know… my father" said Gabriel, "and no one else?" said Father Young, looking rather puzzled… "No" "hmm… tell me, did it look like they were looking for something?" "No, I don't think so" "hmm…" Rain…

Father Young was looking a bit thoughtful. So much, in fact, he started to pace around the procession room, his hand twisting up his white goatee… "Father?" said Gabriel after Father Young gave three laps around the room, "Hmm?" said the Father, "what did you find out about the shards?"

"Oh… it's just that… it's just that that's the thing, Gabriel: I wasn't able to find any information about those shards; no book records, no similarities… not even the Gypsies up in Gomorrah wanted to talk of it" answered Father Young… and Gabriel looked disenchanted now… saturnine even…

"However, I heard a rumour; a legend about a deadly weapon from the locals…" and suddenly, thunder rumbled through the procession… "Oh dear… rain…" said the Father, "what weapon, Father?" shouted Gabriel, "oh yes… um… I think its called S…" and then, a scream: "LOOK, SOMEONE'S DROWNING IN THE STREAM‼"


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3: The Surfin' Bird_

Gabriel left the church alongside Father Young, pelting to the back, where the stream ran closest to the church, which ran near Gabriel's room… "Hold on, Father, I should get something…" And Gabriel pelted into his room while Father Young raced outside, where lots of people had gathered…

Gabriel rummaged through a small wardrobe next to his cot… and pulled out a long bag… he pulled it down, ripping it for the third time and took the long spear in it outside… It was pouring rain, so much it was like the heavens had ripped open…

He saw a small crowd of the twenty orphans, Sister Tabitha and Father Young… and someone else tagging along, looking the most distressed… Gabriel could tell it was a woman from the soft, puffy pink lips that peeked through the long brown cloak that she wore over her face… there was a bruise and a cut on her cheeks and next to her mouth, as though from a fight… and then he noticed someone in the stream…

It was a girl of around his age, perhaps a few months or years older… however, he didn't really want to focus on details right now, because she was currently running down the stream, which, sadly, led to an underground chamber, which then led to an underground portion of the stream that leads to the ocean.

She seemed rather weak, and severely battered, as though she had come back from a battle too… she reached out blindly, trying to keep her head above water and trying to grab hold of some branch… suddenly, she finally managed it: she grabbed a branch peeking out from the bank on the side of where the rescue party was, which made them screech to a halt and slip on the mud and wet ground…

"Gabrielle, quickly, fetch some rope or something!" squealed Sister Tabitha, and Gabrielle's wet blonde hair swished around as she ran back to the church… "Hold on, miss!" yelled the orphans at random, trying with their little hands to reach the young girl… as the Sister and Father tried to pull them away…

"Talim!" yelled suddenly the woman, pulling out a sword in it's scabbard, "try to grab this!" she reached out to the girl in the water… sure, it was longer than the orphans' arms… but it still wasn't far enough to reach the young girl…

"Here, let me help!" suddenly yelled Father Young, "give me the sword and hold on to my robes!" he ordered; the woman did as she was told, and, incredibly, she could support the old man's dragging weight with little struggle: Gabriel now saw why: she was rather muscular, and looked like a soldier…

However, their efforts were still in vain… If the woman let go of Father Young's soaked robes, he would fall in too, even though he encouraged her to… "Help! I'm… I'm slipping!" yelled the girl, and Gabriel saw the branch was tearing from the earth of the deep stream… "Here Father, try me" said Gabriel, and they did the same thing they did earlier: the woman held Father Young, who now held on Gabriel's toga.

Now, Gabriel extended his long weapon… and it… was… almost… "PERFECT! I GOT HER!" he yelled, and the woman, Father Young and Gabriel all pulled with all the might God allowed them… and, like a bullet, the girl shot out of the water and up into the air… and she landed on a dog pile: Father Young on top of the woman, Gabriel on top of Father Young, and the girl on top of Gabriel…

The girl coughed up some water… and then the woman, sounding rather muffled, shouted "GET OFF OF ME, YOU ORTHODOX SCUM!" and they were all pushed off by the woman… "Cassandra, is that you?" said the girl, now face-up on the grass, "yeah… good to know you're not drowning, Talim"… "HEY!"

Cassandra then pulled the brown cloak off to reveal a young woman with short, blonde hair and bright, young skin dotted with the scars of some apparent battles… and she looked absolutely pissed. "WHERE'S THE WANNABE CANUCK BRAT?" Canuck… but the only French person here is…

"Please, _Madame,_ I swear to you, I did not push her into zee waters on purpose, 'tis was an accident!" cried Gabrielle, exasperated and scared, "I apologize for doing it!" "Cassandra, I think you should get the point…" said the girl, whom Cassandra had helped up, "Well, you better make up for it with other than an apology, you little French high-class brat!"

"She is a an orphan" said Sister Tabitha, "we have nothing to give you" chanted Father Young, "Silence, you Orthodox crap!" Suddenly, Gabriel noticed a shield on her back… and he noticed the symbol on it immediately… he had learned of it while reading a book of languages… it was the Greek symbol of Hephaestus, Greek god of forge.

"I knew it" said Gabriel, "she's a Greek; a heretic in God's eyes" "Ha!" mocked Cassandra, "and who are you to point fingers, church boy?" and she pulled out her sword from its scabbard, "I bet you're not even worth your d…" However, Cassandra did not say much else… for Father Young smacked her over the head with a dull _thunk _with a strange weapon…

"This is holy ground" he told the girl Talim, who bowed in apology… Father Young looked for a moment at the spear Gabriel was holding… "Tell your friend that it is unacceptable in our culture, and I bet in any culture…" They carried both girls into the church… and, under the Father's advice, Gabriel hid his spear.


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4: Sun Is Shining On Me Now_

Cup of hot cocoa… some people gathered around the fire spot… and Talim was shivering like she had a cold. "'Zere you are, madam" said Gabrielle, giving Talim a cup of the new cocoa that came in from the south… "Thank you" said Talim, sipping it down… a hundred coins Gabrielle still felt a bit guilty, from that look in her eyes…

"Is the Greek mistress ok?" she asked, looking at the unconscious heretic on the floor, "I guess she is… she's lucky you guys came along! She would probably have drowned along with me…" and then Talim looked at Gabriel, "Thank you; you saved me Mr… um…"

"Gabriel" said Gabriel, "and please don't call me 'Mr. Gabriel'… _please_ don't" he added, making Talim and Gabrielle giggle a bit, "we call zim Father Gabriel because he is so religious!" said Gabrielle, looking fondly at Gabriel, "I guess I'll call you that too; Father I'll call you from now on"

Gabriel smiled, although he groaned silently: he felt a bit old and alienated already because the kids called him that… did such a pretty young woman call him by such a humiliating name too? Ah well… he kind of liked it too… it made him feel… superior if you will… oh, whatever… "Ow… my… head…" murmured someone…

They all looked at Cassandra, who was stirring a bit, but did not wake up completely… "Oh, dang it" said Talim: one of the strange… sword/ wooden sticks got stuck on the strap of her knapsack…. When she pulled… Gabriel's heart stopped as it hit the hidden closet… and the door opened…

"What the heck…" said Talim, picking up the long pole arm Gabriel had used earlier to pull her to safety… "Oh no…" muttered Gabrielle… "NO, DON'T…" "OW!" yelled Cassandra; Gabriel had stepped on her foot… and as he looked at her to check if she was alright, Talim said "Oh, this is that spear…"

"NO, DON'T LOOK AT THAT!" yelled Gabriel, lunging at Talim, ready to steal the spear from her… however, Talim apparently had incredible reflexes, and she was VERY strong… because she was holding the thrashing Gabriel from her with one of her long, smooth, bronze legs as she inspected the spear…

"Hmm… polished regularly… six inches in width… a classical Roman long arm… it's an old version… really old… what's that?" Oh no… _she found the inscription_… "It's in Aramaic… lucky I read that old language book back home…" "NO, DON'T READ… IT…" struggled Gabriel, only to be pushed on his butt by Talim…

"_He who holds this spear will have his destiny given to him…" _translated Talim… "oh my…" she said… and she looked at Gabriel… "The legends are true then… it's not all rumours at all… the church is the one who delve with the Merovingian collections…"

"Ooo… ze Merovingian… the kings of the French chapters… they are so mysterious!" said Gabrielle, sounding extremely interested… Gabriel sighed… "Yeah, yeah, you found us out…" said Gabriel, sitting down… "Then… if I'm right… then this is the Spear of Destiny… this is the…"

Gabriel, however, finished her guess for her… "The spear rumoured to have pierced the side of Christ by the Roman Longinus." Gabriel sighed again, and then said "yes, that's the very one" "Amazing…" Talim said, handing the spear to Gabriel… "But… I just never thought it would be… protected by… by…"

"By what?" Gabriel encouraged her… "By someone so young" Gabriel bowed his head… a feeling of disappointment and embarrassment making his intestines twist and turn… "Hey, Father Gabriel is not a little boy!" exclaimed Gabrielle, making her raggedy dress sway a bit, "I personally zink he is extremezzly worthzy of keeping the Spear of Longinus"…

"Yes… but… still, what kind of dangers could someone take holding such a precious weapon?" Gabriel suddenly got up and left… "Oh no…" said Gabrielle… "What's wrong with him?" Talim asked Gabrielle… "Well…" said Gabrielle…

The blonde seemed a bit uncomfortable standing there… she played a bit with her hair before she spoke again… "Let's just say zat… the spear is also ze reason why Father Gabriel is here in the first place…" "wait… you mean…" said Talim, "please forgive me, but Father Gabriel has asked us all not to talk about it with strangers…" said Gabrielle, tears crawling out of her eyes as she bowed to Talim in apology…

"I understand" said Talim kindly, "Well… I shall leave you now so you may rest… you may leave whenever you like…" said Gabrielle… "Good night" and she ran off, her rag-made dress and long, blonde hair flying behind her…

"_So, we are going to that town, right, Cyrus?"_

"_Yeah… maybe those chicks we saw with the shard will tell us something…"_

"_We should be careful though…"_

"_Hippie, Tobias… hippie…" _


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5: Strangers in the mist…_

It was kind of weird… at some degree, at least. Two new people inhabited the walls of the church, along with Father Young, Sister Tabitha, the orphans, and Gabriel… now there was the two outsiders: Talim and the Greek Cassandra.

Cassandra was probably a rather stereotypical Greek that Gabriel had seen while travelling in Athens: short, blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Talim, however, Gabriel could tell was from that much more far away… her green hair and the strange weapons could indicate she came from somewhere near Asia…

"So, how did you come to be here?" asked Gabriel, as they ate some dingy food (which Gabriel cooked…), "well… let's just say we came across each other…" said Talim, delightfully eating the food, while Cassandra stared at it with disgust in her eyes.

"And we decided that we should help each other" said Cassandra, hesitantly taking up her fork and picking away at the earthy soup, "I see… but what are you guys travelling for?" said Gabriel, "Well…" said Talim… she looked a bit hesitant…

"Personal reasons, now butt out, church boy" barked Cassandra, "sorry for asking…" said Gabriel, taking a big chunk of a pepper in his soup, "it's just that… there's this thing I've wanted to do since I got here…" and Gabriel took hold of the metal fragments…

However, immediately he pulled them out, he noticed Talim and Cassandra were staring at him… and then at the glowing-red metal shards… they looked full of exhaust and terror… "you… you have those… shards" stuttered Cassandra…

"Yeah… I found them… before I left" said Gabriel, "have you ever heard of these before?" Cassandra shook her head, which made Talim shoulder her… Talim then pushed away her soup, wiped her mouth and spoke: "yeah… and it's the reason we're travelling as well" and she reached behind her…

And, clasped in her hands, were a bunch of irregular shards, creating the same colour aura as his… "Cassandra also had them when I met her" added Talim… Gabriel's face was full of surprise, and Talim could hear his heart beat… "You probably don't know the story, do you?"

Once Gabriel had shook his head, Talim broke into a story unlike the type Gabriel had heard before: "Well, it all began in the chaos of the creation of the universe… from that essence was born everything… good and evil…"

Even though Talim had not noticed it, the orphans sitting around them had their ears overhear the conversation Talim, Cassandra, and Gabriel were having… they stared… and they listened to the end of the story…

"And, in a moment of pure power, both energies manifested themselves into reality… and under pressure of everything that was happening… there was born the two legendary swords: Soul Calibur, the mystical, magical, and good sword… and Soul Edge…" and Talim shook the shards in her hands…

"The life consuming, evil blade"… "Me and Cassandra have been crusading to find the rest of the sword…" added Talim… "And once we complete the sword, we can finally destroy it, and make it disappear from the world…" ended Cassandra…

Even though they sounded as though they were bragging, Gabriel knew that their story was true… I mean, why would such a motley duo come to this humble church? He betted that's what the orphans were saying… "Yes… that's the sword I had heard of in my travels… Gabriel, it's all true then" Father Young said…

There was a long silence… Gabriel looked as though he was thinking roughly… it looked as though all he was doing is thinking, and for a minute, his face looked kind of purple from all the thinking… "Gabriel?" he heard Gabrielle said…

"Cassandra, Talim… are you certain you came alone?" Gabriel said… "Well… there was these two guys that I had some weird hunch about… it was some tall guy and another guy, who always wore a cloak..." he heard Cassandra say… "Yeah, and then they just disappeared after a stop in Gomorrah"…

Then Gabriel arose from the table that reached across the room… he looked content… rather convinced that he was, no matter what, going to accomplish a goal most of the people in this room would consider unnecessary, stupid, and downright suicidal… "Talim, Cassandra, pack up, you're leaving… and I'm coming"…

Their boots crumpled against the green grass… the air swished their cloaks in the air… they stared around at the beauty of the fields… something so magnificent they hadn't seen before… suddenly, they both spotted the church… "That's where they are?" asked the tall man… "Yes, positive…" said the smaller one…


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6: Learning to Fly_

It was hard and strange… leaving home… a place where everyone knows you… where everyone likes you where you are, there, in your place, in your home… Although, Gabriel though it wasn't going to be that hard… although, it was kind of stressful when your friends complain in yells and shrieks for you not to leave… and when there's a single blonde-haired heretic bleating you to hurry up.

_Into the distance_

_A ribbon of black_

_Stretched to the point of no turning back…_

_A flight of fancy…on a wind swept field_

_Standing, shocked, my senses reeled_

"Gabriel, please!" Gabriel heard Gabrielle sob, "You can't leave… who… who will read to us at night? Who will watch us when no one else is?" "Gabrielle… I'm sorry… I…" however, Gabriel didn't know what to say, so he just ignored her as he packed some of his clothes into an old bag…

_A fatal attraction holding me fast…_

_How can I escape such an irresistible grasp?_

"Gabriel, you cannot leave!" he heard Father Young yell, "You are training for priesthood! You leave now, you will be committing sacrilege!" "I can continue my training abroad…" defended Gabriel, only to be silenced by the following crowd… and an icy feeling that ran down his spine, and all across his body, and iced his stomach too…

_Ice is forming on the tips of my wings_

_Unheeded warnings… I thought I thought of everything_

_No navigator to find my way home_

_Now I'll be unladened, empty, and turned to stone_

"FATHER GABRIEL, YOU CAN'T LEAVE!" the whole crowd resounded, "YOU CAN'T LEAVE, WE'LL MISS YOU… DON'T GO! YOU CAN'T GO! YOU WON'T GO!" "Would you mind hurrying up?" Cassandra said… **_"ENOUGH!" _**Gabriel shouted at the top of his voice… when the crowd didn't shut up, though, he did so a few dozen times… the same word…

_A soul in tension learning to fly_

_Condition: grounded, but eager to try…_

_Can't keep his eyes from the circling skies_

_Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, says bye…_

"Guys…" said Gabriel, his voice rather gruff from his yelling, "I know you'll all miss me… but I have to go. I feel God is sending me on this… I just know it. From up, in the heavens, behind the vapours and clouds, in my prayers, I hear him… he told me to keep my eyes ahead on this task: to find evil and destroy it… and that's why I'll be going now… I'm sorry… but that's the way it'll have to be… from now on, at least for a little while, I'll be gone… ok?"

_Above the planets on a wing and a prayer_

_My grubby and ugly halo a vapour trail in the empty air_

_Across the clouds I see a shadow in pine_

_Out of the corner of a watery eye…_

_A dream unthreatened by the morning light_

_Could blow this soul right through the flight…_

Even though no one uttered a single word after that… even though nobody said goodbye… even though Gabrielle had gone from the crowd in tears… there was a rather grim approval… although uncertainty kept an anchor buried in the ground… as he walked through the fields, up to the mountains as the sun set… Gabriel could only wonder… what was beyond the bend… beyond the next hill… he knew an entire world… ready to rip him up into teeny little pieces over a few stupid pieces of glowing junk… ah, well, at least God was with him… although… oh, forget it… Anyway, Gabriel bundled behind Cassandra and Talim, not daring to look forward… however, when he decided to look up to stretch his neck, once his feet began to ache, he bumped into Talim's back… "Why did we…" and then, he noticed two people standing in their way…

One was a tall, rather burly and fit young man with fiery red hair that went all the way down to his knees, and two, azure, sky-matching and penetrating eyes. He wore a rather combat-felt outfit, and carried two swords on his belt. He looked rather fierce and kind, as though he was an unstoppable Viking warrior straight from Asgard. Then, next to him, sat a more eerie reflection: a towering figure, taller than his comrade, who wore a long brown cloak that covered his head. For some strange reason, whenever the sun shone into the cloak, something would glint…

"Why, hello!" said the red-haired man cheerfully, "where are you guys headed?" "You're in our way" said Cassandra… "Say… haven't we seen you guys before?" said the red-haired man, rather sarcastically, as he eyed Cassandra's smooth face and eyes, "yeah… what do you want?" said Talim, looking reproachful…

"Well… let's just say you have some very important pieces to a very important antique sword… belonged to my father, bless his soul… I was wondering, could I have it back?" However, before he could finish the sound of "back", a teeth-shattering CLANG! Erupted all throughout the air, making Gabriel's ear-drum vibrate and ache… Suddenly, with a loud growl, Gabriel felt something fall on him… however, just as quickly as he fell against the grass; it was removed with a loud groan…

"Gabriel, you okay?" said Talim, helping him up, "yeah… what was…" however, before he could finish his question, a castrophanatingly crass and sudden shiver of horror answered it: there, on the ground, were the two men: the red haired one was knocked out cold, spread-eagled on the ground… and then, next to him, was the other… except Gabriel…and everyone there… could immediately tell that this was no man…

Instead, a… demon… was lying there. His skin was unnaturally black, and, in some places, one could spot some old, drying scales. His eyes, which were half-open, showed them to be red, down to the very pupils… his hair was long like his comrade's, except it was ghostly, snowy white.

Everyone, especially Gabriel, had been shaken heavily… so, in order to not let them attack them, but at the same time not leave them to starve, the trio tied the two men up in two sacks, tying them with rope at several points (Gabriel made sure to put extra and tighter knots, and a crucifix, on the "demon".) . They were dragged, with lots of effort and grunt, around to the mountains… up them… bumping heads and knees… until, finally, they were on a ledge on the side of a rocky mountain…

It was beautiful up there… but oh so brief… in fact, Gabriel could even see his village over there, behind a thin cloud… and then, once it dispersed, it revealed not only the village… but also a recognizably human figure on a hill… the same one they had been on a few moments ago… A sudden, bright flash of yellow told Gabriel that it was Gabrielle…

_There's no sensation to compare with this_

_Suspended animation_

_A state of bliss_

_Through the clouds I see a tear dry_

_I can see myself _

_Flapping my wings to fly_

_Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies_

_Tongue tied and twisted _

_Just an earth-bound misfit, I…_


	7. Chapter 7

_Chapter 7: You've got to Be Crazy_

The trekkers walked along, bumbling here and there between some awkward rocks around the grass-covered hills. Occasionally, a loud, hollow knock would come from the two sacks Cassandra and Talim were dragging along. "It's the tall one" finally said Cassandra to two her two confused companions, "I bet it would suit him well…"

"Oh, come on, give them a break" argued Talim, "you're treating them very harshly, you know!" "Hey, if I'm dragging two morons along that want our shards, then I'm not taking any chances… they could have been looking to take them from us, you know" she added, to make a little sense to her words. "Well… maybe they wanted to come with us… or something…" piped Talim, "hey, we already have ONE man… we don't need anymore to weigh us down." "Okay, now you're just being rude!" exclaimed Talim,

"Its okay" said Gabriel, although he sounded a bit morose. Cassandra spat at the ground, and then grabbed an orange from a lone tree next to the road… and suddenly, someone stirred from the sacks; "Hey, those guys are awake" announced Gabriel, which made both girls stop… while Talim gently put down her sack, Cassandra simply let it drop, making another hollow crunch… "Ow" groaned the red-haired man shortly, before he rolled out of his sack… he was followed by his brother, who, with a vicious growl of annoyance, the other one, the demon, slashed his way out of his sack… only to sit himself, pouting, on a crucifix… "OW!" he said, pulling it out from under him with some effort, then throwing it over his shoulder and saying "who the hell left a stick on the ground?"

"That would have been me, demon" said Gabriel, grabbing a gladius on his belt, "Demon… where? I'll slay it!" said the other man, jumping up on his feet and drawing out an odd sword. "Relax, you monkeys" said Cassandra, throwing away the cut ropes, "you haven't nothing to worry about". "Except for some concussions…" Gabriel heard Talim say under her breath. He chuckled a bit… but he couldn't stop staring at the demon… and then, he suddenly snapped.

"You" he said, calling to the demon, which turned his red eyes to Gabriel, "what?" he said in an ethereal voice, "did that cross hurt?" "Yeah… it went all the way up my…" "I thought so" and, like a rhinestone cowboy, Gabriel pulled out a tiny black book with the words "The Roman Rituals" emblazoned in golden letters on the front along with another cross.

"Come closer, demon…" said Gabriel in a low, commanding voice. The "demon", bewildered, slowly approached Gabriel, his feet breaking the grass underfoot. There was a brief silence… "In the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I command thee, demon!" yelled Gabriel, reading from the tiny little book, "Spell your name to me!" The demon hesitated for a bit, looked at his partner for no response, and then said "umm… Tobias?"

"Demon, I command you to leave this Earth from hence you came!" said Gabriel… "no, wait… that comes… ah, whatever!" he added, shifting rapidly through the pages on the little book and then throwing it away, and pulling a tiny little vial from his bag, popping the cork open and then yelling "Demon, leave now from this Earth! It is the power of Christ that orders you!"

"Um… we don't believe in God…" said the other man, "SILENCE, HERETIC!" roared Gabriel ("Heretic… what…" said the man under his breath, though decided to stay silent in slight fear). Tobias looked a bit confused, and then said "what's in that vial?" "Why… holy water!" and then, the most awkward moment started.

Gabriel soaked Tobias in water, and, over his yells of "hey that's cold!" he yelled "THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU! THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!" over and over. After a while, Tobias started to run, only to be chased by Gabriel. Seeing that his ritual was failing, Gabriel tried other means… for example, he used his cross to smack Tobias on the head and legs, and he even threw the vial at him.

Finally, Tobias had enough; an echoing roar came around, and then a rip of clothes… and the clang of metal. "Son of a gun!" yelled Gabriel, before kicking Tobias away from him. He had managed to reflect to Tobias's roar, and he had pulled out his spear from his back to block the slash. "You… you blocked him!" said the other man, referring to Tobias, who was on the floor and equally shocked.

"HOW DARE YOU STRIKE ME, DEMON!" roared Gabriel, pointing at Tobias with the spear, "You have no power on this Earth, or against me!" "Explain to me why not, you brat!" snarled Tobias, his pupils becoming smaller and his claws extending slightly, "I am a follower of God, and you a mindless servant of the DEVIL!" and with that last word, Gabriel took the spear in his other hand and charged at Tobias.

However, as soon as the tip was inches from Tobias, he simply grabbed it and pushed it out of the way. Gabriel subsequently came running behind it, and in time ran straight into Tobias's claws. However, he yelped at the sight of them coming straight at his face, and he slided on the grass (a la baseball)… and threw Tobias into the air as he tripped him.

Tobias's feet smashed against the soil as he landed. He had the spear's tip in his hand, and Gabriel was standing up, his hand still tight on the other end. They then had a tug-of-war over the spear; Tobias slowly triumphed, pulling the struggling Gabriel toward him, and then pulling hard and making him trip out of balance. He planned on presenting priest boy's face to his knee…

Only for Gabriel to regain his step, and barely missed Tobias's knee. Tobias noticed this, and extended his leg fully to kick. However, Gabriel noticed this, and clumsily fell on his back to avoid it. Frustrated, Tobias took his claws and tried sinking them into Gabriel's throat. Gabriel grabbed them, and a struggle embellished.

Gabriel pushed this way, Tobias the other… his black, sharp claws grazing Gabriel's throat, and then tasting cold air as Gabriel gained a brief upper hand… here… there… then, he felt a slight… sting in his head as he felt Gabriel's hard skull hide with his. Dirty bastard church boy… he had head butted him! Tobias stumbled off of Gabriel, his head feeling like it was spinning in its socket…

Gabriel felt the same way… his eyes formed circles in front of him… oh… and that headache… well, that was stupid decision, wasn't it, man? Gabriel slowly got up, and scrambled across the ground for the spear… he found the handle, and took it up in arms… He heard a slight rustle of grass, which meant Tobias had stood up, and another that indicated he was coming. Gabriel had heard a slight roar, but it was so far off.

He thrust the spear around him… and felt a crushing blow against his head which finally knocked him out. Gabriel also hit Tobias with the butt of the spear on the head, which also knocked him out. Gabriel fell on his back, completely numb. Tobias spun on the place, and slouched, half-conscious, on the ground. "You gotta have a real need…" mumbled Tobias before letting his face kiss the grass.

The rest of the cast, who had watched the fight in several stunned stupors, now stared down at the two unconscious bums… "Well, that was slightly unnecessary" said Cassandra matter-of-factly, taking a bite out of the orange she had picked.


	8. Chapter 8

_Chapter 8: Everybody loves my baby. She Gets…_

There was a whirling color of hazelnut smelling water that thrashed about in front of Gabriel's face. It floated in the air for a little while as he was inclined by an invisible force forward, up off the air. At first, it was as if they were in space: no air, no nothing, just floating at the mercy of gravity… until suddenly wind flashed Gabriel's face, and he crashed face-first on the black ground, into the hazelnut water.

He was very sure he was dazed and beaten out of his mind: he couldn't even see the blackness in front of him because it looked so damn blurry. The water's sour smell stung his nostrils as he got up, wet, uncomfortable, and hot from his fight with the "demon". "Am I dead?" he said, hearing his voice echo off the wall and then recoil once again on its own echo. He was surprised at the distance the echo seemed to cart off. He was actually more surprised that someone actually answered his question.

"No, not yet" retorted an ethereal, distant, distorted voice. "Who said that, who are you?" Gabriel asked, twisting around on his spot, looking around for whoever said that, "I am… your worst…" the voice rumbled back. Gabriel couldn't understand it too much because it sounded so distant… he was hesitant on saying what he wanted to say…

"Where are you?" he said, avoiding the other question. His voice collided with the other person's voice, making it completely incoherent. "Are you carrying a weapon?!" Gabriel screamed at the top of his voice… "No" the voice said, actually sounding very close… Gabriel, however, still couldn't see who it was that said it… he decided that his efforts were futile, and finally said that dreaded command he had wanted to avoid: "Come closer…" "Right here" someone said… uncomfortably close.

He jumped. The voice came directly behind him… right there, standing as though nothing had happened, was a girl… a beautiful young woman, in her teens, in a stunning gown, and with a cold, uncharacteristically sad face. "Why is such a treasure as you so in sorrow?" Gabriel was unresisting to say, "I have lost someone…" she said, sounding very morose, "lost someone? In here?" Gabriel said, raising his arms to show the girl the darkness surrounding them.

"No… he has left me, and I haven't seen him for such a long time" the girl said. "I see… so, can you tell me how I can get out of here?" "No... Sadly, no… I fear that we've both already strayed too far into a mess neither of us can comprehend" the girl said.

Gabriel stared into her deep, green eyes… and, spontaneously, he said "beautiful…" "What did you say?" a delicate voice swam through Gabriel's head as he pulled his eyes open. He was staring up at a standing Talim's submarine-green eyes and upside-down face. One of the many rosaries Gabriel carried about with him (this was a wooden one) hung from her neck, tickling his face slightly.

"Ah, Ms. Talim…" Gabriel groaned, getting up in a crunch of his back. He felt Talim's silky, lush hair brush against his face as she reverted to a kneeling position behind Gabriel. "Did you rest well?" she asked, rolling up the blanket he had been laying on, "A little bit…" Gabriel said, wrenchingly standing himself up as his back crunched and crunched, as if he had been stiff as a board for months.

"How long was I knocked out?" Gabriel said, staring up at the star-lit sky, deducing Talim's answer: "Several hours, we traveled a couple of miles into some woods. The Moondymond brothers went ahead of us to the nearby pond to wash up after Cassandra dragged them through the dirt" Talim said, pointing down into a nearby valley. "The whooty-whatty who, what did you say?"

"Cyrus and Tobias Moondymond, the two men that we knocked out?" she explained, "Cassandra beat them silly before they spat out their names, although she couldn't get much else out of them". "I see… who is who?" Gabriel said, "Cyrus is the tall burly one and Tobias is the one you fought. Are you hungry? I have some salted meat in a backpack… somewhere…"

Gabriel nodded, throwing himself on the ground, wishing he slept again. The dream he had had trailed from his memory already. As he heard Talim clatter about, he thought of the monastery, and how far he must be right now. "I've never traveled like this before… Roma is so close to the monastery's town, I actually remember the dirt road to it. I miss it already…" he said…

"That's typical of a whiny punk church boy" he heard someone rant in Latin. Cassandra popped her head into his vision, suddenly stuffing a salted steak into Gabriel's mouth. Gabriel's mouth watered once the salt grazed his tongue. He worked it down in one bite, not wishing the salt to sting his drying mouth. "I see you're still as charming as ever, madam Cassandra" Gabriel said, staring at the sky as Cassandra's blonde hair swished through the air as she walked over to where he deduced the packs were, "ah, go sodomize a bible, church boy" Cassandra remarked.

"I guess I'll do just that" Gabriel grunted as he stood up and headed for his pack, where a portable bible contacted his hands. He opened it up on the Psalms, suddenly inspired for a little romance since his vague memories of his dream.

"Are you just going to sit there?" Cassandra said, shouldering a dirty bag of what looked like clothes. "We were going to the pond for a little bath. Would you like to accompany us?" Gabriel heard Talim's voice say, followed by a "Huh?!" from both Gabriel and Cassandra. Gabriel's increasing pulse allowed him to react in a second, thinking 'God, absolutely, Screw this' whilst simultaneously slowly getting up, trying to keep a façade of uncharacteristic male calm, dropping his bible, and saying "if you insist" in a very casual voice.

Gabriel had bathed before with women, including Gabrielle and all of the other little girls at the monastery, and had read and learned plenty on… you know, anatomy. His most memorable experience had been when he was reading the bible whilst bathing in the stream near the monastery. A very busty Roman woman and her husband and kids had stopped for a break in the stream. The woman caught glance of Gabriel, smiled, and then gave him a little wave with her fingers. He did the same, and then re-focused himself on his bible. A fond memory for a... you know, humble or whatever priest-in-training.

Still, he knew the girls wanted to avoid exposing themselves to him: both undressed underwater (though Talim said it was to start up the washing of them), and Cassandra made damn sure the only thing Gabriel could see of her was either her fuming head or her neck. Talim, though, seemed to want to do the complete opposite: to make damn sure Gabriel saw everything of her. One example was when Gabriel was undressing on land (he decided to keep on a pair of briefs for decency's sake). Talim rose out of the water in order to grab a raking board from her pack.

Gabriel got a complete look at the most exotic bodice he had ever seen. Talim's wet honey-yellow tanned skin was smooth and shone like the sun. Her chest was toned perfectly, showing that she was very physical and active. Her breasts were plump and perky, and the nipples brown and visually succulent.

It was clear she was from a humid jungle land from a place like India or the Philippines. Wherever she came from, it was obvious it was in the chasms of the deepest Orient. Her bushy pubic hair hid anything else from Gabriel's prying eyes. Once she turned around, he made sure he didn't catch glimpse of her buttocks, knowing that it might drive him to the point of nervous breakdown. Already he was trying to conceal his arousing. He tried to blow off the heat in his face, and he turned around so Cassandra wouldn't notice the bulge in his briefs.

She didn't seem to mind Gabriel's brief glance at her. As soon as Talim turned back, and Cassandra was focused on her, Gabriel stretched his undies, pushed his penis down so as to look non-erect, and wrapped a piece of cloth around it to hide it further.

'I gotta let you know, Lord…' Gabriel thought, taking a deep breath, 'I regret this… I _slightly_ regret this… I _**slightly**_ regret it, but I still regret it…' Knowing Cassandra might make a fiasco out of him if she saw, he tried walking normally instead of the waddle the held-down jumba might force unto him as he descended into the cold waters of the pond.

Suddenly, he noticed something very uncomfortable: Talim and Cassandra were eyeing his torso… his ghostly, emaciated excuse for a torso. "My goodness… you're so… skinny" Talim said, looking at Gabriel's slightly disgusting, skeletal appearance, "do you eat much?" "Sure, though you have to understand, it's only a simple monastery" Gabriel said, "the church doesn't pay us much, and the grazing grounds for the cattle were diminishing over the months I was around" "It sound like you've been through hard times" Talim said, looking honestly concerned, "That's life, I guess" Gabriel assured her, not wanting a consolatory hug.

"Explains the fact of why you can become camouflaged in the snow" Cassandra joked, snickering. Gabriel felt his face grow hot as Cassandra opened her mouth again: "that Moondymond wretch is actually more attractive than you. You should have glanced at their horns, too." Gabriel shook his face (in disgust and in disbelief). 'Makes you wonder just how much better women are to men in reality' he thought, contracting his face as he tried not to imagine what Cassandra had just said.

"Don't mind her" Talim said, a sad, understanding smile on her beautiful face. "I don't mind her…" Gabriel said, unconvincingly. He was sure that Talim didn't believe him when he grew tired of Cassandra's snickering and drifted off to another part of the pond, intent on finding out his location and what was new during the time of his extended nap.


End file.
